Turning Tom Lee Park Into A Memphis Icon
With Alan Crone, chief adviser and confidant of Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, now leading the riverfront process that includes upgrading Tom Lee Park, there’s new...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 17, 2017 | City of Memphis Government, Parks and Greening
With Alan Crone, chief adviser and confidant of Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, now leading the riverfront process that includes upgrading Tom Lee Park, there’s new...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 15, 2017 | Politics and Government
Why is it that there’s always more money for weapons and war but not for people and human need? It’s been hard for years to ignore that feeling with the Republican Congress....
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 13, 2017 | City of Memphis Government, Economic Development, Shelby County government, Taxation
EDGE pioneered in the transparency of corporate business incentives, and although it slipped very slightly in the latest ranking, it needs to give some pointers to the...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 10, 2017 | Planning and Urban Design
Memphis has the greatest density of any city in our region, but it only barely leads Bartlett and Germantown. Meanwhile, it lags behind its peer cities in the number...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 8, 2017 | Livability
We wrote last week about Memphis in May International Festival and this year’s honored country, Colombia. We were lucky that our friend and talented...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 6, 2017 | Parks and Greening
The Memphis Zoo regularly reminds us of someone involved in domestic abuse. Given opportunities to change behavior, they return without apology to their old patterns of...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Mar 2, 2017 | Economic Development, Livability
Few people in Memphis get as much advice, suggestions, and critiques as politicians, but one of them has to be Jim Holt at Memphis in May International Festival. That’s always the case...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 27, 2017 | City of Memphis Government, Economic Development, Livability, Transportation
My grandmother often answered our latest whining request with the response: “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” The updated version for our community: If...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 23, 2017 | City of Memphis Government, Parks and Greening
This article three days ago in the St. Thomas Source in the U.S. Virgin Islands is the latest reminder of why there is no defensible reason why Memphis should...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Feb 21, 2017 | Leadership
It’s been a couple of years since we’ve checked in on Volunteer Odyssey so we were pleased to get a news release indicating that the important program is not only alive and...
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by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, City Journal columnist at Memphis magazine, author of two books and a museum exhibition, and consultant on public policy and strategic planning. He has written articles for MLK50, The Commercial Appeal, and USA Today. The blog was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal said it “provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solve the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas.” If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.